A word of advice

The media suggest that Dr Fox has not taken kindly to his banishment to the back benches and that he is likely to lead a right-wing charge next week in the anti-European debate. Liam, before you make enemies in Europe, consider the following. Alain Juppé, former French prime minister, was convicted of a fraud and, having had the prison sentence reduced on appeal and the ban on political activity reduced from 10 years to one, he took a gap year in Quebec to teach up and coming Canadians the French way of conducting politics. On his return he was soon made Minister of Defence and is now Minister of Foreign Affairs. (No DSK jokes, please.) Polls find that some people would prefer him to stand at the next presidential elections and prefer him to the squeaky clean PM François Fillon. So Liam, don’t burn your boats. You haven’t even been convicted of anything, so whilst your future in UK politics may be in question, stay on friendly terms with the Europeans because they see things differently.
On the matter of polls, a Swiss company recently carried out a survey which found that whilst British and German men put on clean socks every day, the French and others in the southern part of Europe were not inclined to do so. Important knowledge if you sell socks (or washing powder).